As it stands, the package makes tough policy choices while largely adhering to the principle that deficit reduction should not increase poverty or inequality. Nevertheless, the budget's spending cuts would have real-world consequences for millions of individuals and families.

if one sets up a playing field where the new Obama budget is one pole and the current Republican no-tax position the other -- and presents the halfway point between them as a compromise -- the result is to ask Obama to accept an outcome to the right of Speaker Boehner's offer in December.

Every night, homeless shelters across the country turn away thousands of people seeking beds -- and not just because they're full, though they often a...